Reclaiming filled wells of ‘living water’: How to restore Earth’s spiritual birthright (Genesis 26; Isaiah 65–66)

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Whisky is for drinking, water is for fighting

In Genesis 26, water wells are part of Abraham’s legacy. Physically digging a well, even with modern equipment, is a challenging task—highlighting the value and effort involved. Water has always been vital, even contentious, especially in arid regions like California. An old saying goes, “Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting,” and that sentiment still holds true.

In recent years, California has shifted its approach to groundwater. What was once considered private property—water beneath your land—is now seen as a shared community resource. Groundwater basins, like the Santa Rosa Plain, are managed regionally. Wells are no longer simply personal but part of a broader ecosystem, requiring awareness of aquifers, their sources, and their replenishment.

Spiritually, water has deep symbolism. In Genesis 1, God’s Spirit hovers over the waters like a hen over her chicks, suggesting compassion and care. Life emerges from these waters: the land, creatures, and finally, mankind—Adam formed from the adamah (earth). Water is essential to life; during Yom Kippur, even one day without water reminds us of our dependence on it—three days without water and a person cannot survive.

Abraham’s act of digging wells was more than practical—it was symbolic of laying claim to the land and establishing a legacy. In the Gospels, Yeshua (Jesus) visiting Jacob’s well connects back to this heritage. The wells represent both physical sustenance and spiritual inheritance, a continuity of God’s promise through generations.

Heaven worked through Abraham, and now God is working with Isaac. Most of the wells Isaac dug were originally dug by Abraham—Isaac was simply protecting and re-establishing his father’s legacy. These wells weren’t just about access to water; they represented ownership of the land they occupied.

When Abraham left the area, the Philistines filled in the wells rather than maintain them. Why would they do that? After all, wells are a source of life.

Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, knew about the promises given to Abraham and Isaac. He envied their close relationship with God and the power that came from it. Yet Abimelech would rather no one benefit from the water than see these “foreigners” thrive. We have a saying for that kind of behavior: it’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Genesis 26:12–35; Isaiah 65:23–66:8; and Romans 9:6–18 are connected by themes of Heaven’s election, blessing, conflict over that blessing and God’s sovereign plan:
• Genesis 26 demonstrates divine blessing through Isaac, prefiguring Yeshua’s greater inheritance.
• Isaiah 65–66 prophesies restoration and new creation, ultimately fulfilled in Messiah.
• Romans 9 clarifies that God’s promises are realized through emunah (faith, trust) in Yeshua — not ancestry connected to those promises.

Wells, Greenhouses, and the Destruction of Life-Giving Gifts

When we make promises, vows and oaths, we have to be careful because do we have sovereignty over our lives and our plans? Not really, which is why the Apostle James says in James 4 that when we make plans for our future, we should preface these plans with “If the Lord wills it” we will do this thing or that thing, because although we have a little sovereignty over our lives, God’s sovereignty is infinite.

Gerar, where most of the events of this chapter occur, is located on the eastern border of ancient Philistia, but is outside the confines of modern day Gaza Strip. This is the area that the Hamas terrorists attacked on October 7, 2023 that caused the conflict that is still going on to this day.

Ancient problems, ancient foes—adversaries that have challenged God’s people throughout the centuries—continue to reappear. The same kind of antagonism seen in ancient Philistia toward the descendants of Abraham still shows up today.

Take, for example, the events in the mid-2000s, when Israel withdrew from Gaza. At the time, Israeli settlers had established greenhouses in the northeastern part of the Gaza Strip, growing flowers and vegetables with advanced irrigation systems. When they left, rather than preserving these life-sustaining resources, many of the greenhouses were destroyed. Pipes were ripped out and, in some cases, repurposed into incendiary devices and rockets.

This modern destruction echoes the ancient act of the Philistines filling in Abraham’s wells. A greenhouse in the desert—like a well—should be a blessing, a source of life. But out of spite, these gifts were destroyed and weaponized.

Chapter 26 of Genesis highlights Isaac’s identity as a sojourner—one who wanders, lives temporarily, and often faces hostility. God’s people striving to preserve life and legacy, while adversaries seek to undermine them, both in ancient times and in the present.

““Sojourn in this land and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your descendants I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I swore to your father Abraham. “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” So Isaac lived in Gerar.” (Genesis 26:3-6 NAS95)

Today, we have advanced tools and technology to locate underground reservoirs and aquifers, making it much easier to dig water wells. But in ancient times, finding water was far more difficult. To dig a well back then and actually strike water was not guaranteed—it was a rare and significant blessing.

Living as Strangers: Isaac’s Example of Temporary Residence in a Hostile Land

Isaac is living in the Philistine territory, but he is a stranger to the Philiistines, he is not subject to them. He lived on the outskirts of Philisitia, but he never joined himself to them. Just as Abraham, who had some interactions with the leaders of Sodom and Gormorah, but did not live with them.

On the other hand, we saw how Lot started out living outside of Sodom but later decided he wanted to live in the city of Sodom and for a time, the people of Sodom pretended to accept him until Lot decided not to ascent to their plans to assault his guests. Then, the people of Sodom turned on him and said he had no right to judge them even though he had been a judge at the city gates for years. Lot tried to put down roots in Sodom but the people of Sodom did not accept him.

Isaac lived near the Philistines because God told him to live there only temporarily. Isaac lived in his tents, on the outskirts of Philistia, as Heaven directed. He reopened Abraham’s wells, restoring the names Abraham had given them, establishing Abraham’s legacy in the area, but when the Philistines pushed him out of one area, he simply took up his tent and moved on. He did not establish deep roots there. Isaac moved out of Philistia, no longer dwelling there and claiming land before it was fully given to the family of Abraham generations later.

“He moved away from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he named it Rehoboth, for he said, “At last the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”” (Genesis 26:22 NAS95)

The Call to Bless and Move On: Learning from Yeshua’s Instructions to His Apostles

We see in the Gospels that when Yeshua (Jesus) sent out some of the shlichim (apostles) two by two into various towns, He gave them specific instructions. If they were welcomed and offered a place to stay, they were to remain there and bless the household with peace. But if they were rejected, they were to take their peace back and shake the dust off their feet—a symbolic act of disassociation, saying, “I’m not even taking the dirt of this place with me.”

Yeshua warned that for any town that rejected His emissaries, the judgment awaiting them would be worse than that of infamous cities judged in the past. Rejecting a representative of the Kingdom of God is a serious matter.

This echoes the spiritual pattern of “stopping up the wells”—a metaphor for rejecting the flow of God’s life and truth. In contrast, in the Gospel of John, we see a different response in Samaria. Yeshua meets a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well—a well passed down from the generation after Isaac. The Samaritans, even after the exile, held on to that legacy in some form.

This is significant, especially when we consider passages in Isaiah that deal with the exile. During that time, the Babylonians removed the Israelites from their land and brought in other peoples to repopulate the area—foreigners, or gerim, in the land of Israel. Meanwhile, the Israelites became gerim in Babylon. This swapping of peoples created a complex legacy, but the idea of gerim—sojourners and foreigners—remains central to understanding both the physical and spiritual displacement during those times.

When Values Clash: The Dangers of Unequal Yoking in Marriage and Life

“When Esau was forty years old he married Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and they brought grief to Isaac and Rebekah.” (Genesis 26:34-35 NAS95)

Esau’s life choices caused great pain to his parents because he married women who had no interest in embracing the faith of his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac. Through his actions, Esau was showing that he felt little loyalty to the Creator. Pointing this out is not an act of xenophobia.

Ruth & Rahab, are examples of foreigners who with their words and actions pledged their complete allegiance to the Creator of Heaven and Earth and took seriously the vow that “Your God will be my God.”

If you share the same belief system, you can walk together because you’re both moving in the same direction. Like animals yoked together, even if they come from different backgrounds, they can still pull together effectively if they share the same mindset and purpose. This is essential for teamwork.

When a team member isn’t aligned—lacking the same work ethic, dedication, or values—the entire mission can fail when critical moments arise. I’ve seen this happen in a company I worked with, where people who weren’t on the same page ended up resisting, sabotaging, or simply refusing to cooperate. If you try to make a covenant with or yoke yourself with people who actively try to sabotage you, your life will be miserable.

Whether in marriage, family, or any partnership, being “yoked” together means you must be pulling in the same direction for things to succeed.

This concept is also seen in Scripture, particularly in the genealogy of Esau. He had four wives, and through one of them, Adah (also known as Basemath), came the lineage of Amalek—the Amalekites. They were a continual enemy of Israel, much like the spirit of Philistia. Amalek’s descendants, including Haman (from the Purim story), consistently opposed and attacked Israel, especially targeting the weak, the elderly, and the vulnerable—not the soldiers.

So the question becomes: Do you have a mentality that uplifts and supports—or one that tears down, fills in wells, and attacks the weak?

New heavens and a new earth: The LORD looks to the humble and contrite

Now that the people of Israel are “ger” in the land of Babylon and Persia, do they want to assimilate or do they want to retain their Israelite identity until God restores them to their Promised Land?

Those who did not assimilate understood that this world was not their home, their home was in heaven. They saw themselves as citizens of Heaven and looked forward to the new heavens and a new earth. They looked forward to God’s restoration.

Abraham had been called out of Babylon and here the Babylonian army had pulled them out of the Promised Land, back to Babylon, a reversal of Abraham’s path. They had to live in Babylon for 70 years, but they were given the promise of return.

Isaiah 65:23-66:8 gives a breathtaking vision of the messianic age — an age of peace, purity, comfort, and sudden deliverance. It reminds us that:
• God is near and compassionate.
• His kingdom is built not by ritual, but by faith/trust and repentance.
• His redemption is certain, sudden and supernatural.

It was the action of the people of Israel that caused the exiles in the first place. They had to repent of what they had done to anger God and cause the exile. God promises a new world where human toil is no longer in vain, family and life are protected, and even the animal kingdom is at peace.

Isaiah 65:23-35 reflects the Edenic restoration under the Messiah—echoing Isaiah 11:6–9. It envisions a time when the curse that Adam and Eve brought upon us is reversed, peace reigns, and God dwells intimately with His people.

In our generation, there are many people who don’t want to have children because they think they are “too much work” or because they are so worried that their children would suffer from calamity so they think it’s better not to have children at all. Both scenarios are wrong and are a rejection of the promises given to us by the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

There are other verses in the Bible that echo this idea that the “earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD.”

“The LORD has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.” (Psalm 98:2 NAS95)

The Apostle Paul talks about this in Romans 1 as well. God’s most important revelation to the world is the Messiah Yeshua. Yeshua got into a lot of trouble in John 10 when He proclaimed His true identity. The truth of who God is has been revealed to the world.

God promises not only to hear but to answer before His people even call. His Presence is likened to the nurturing comfort of a mother. As we are preparing for Passover, we will recall that God did not abandon His people in Egypt, He heard their cries for relief from bondage.

“For thus says the LORD, “Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and fondled on the knees. “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; And you will be comforted in Jerusalem.” Then you will see this, and your heart will be glad, And your bones will flourish like the new grass; And the hand of the LORD will be made known to His servants, But He will be indignant toward His enemies.” (Isaiah 66:12-14 NAS95)

This is a very touching passage. This is not abandonment. This is reassurance that even though we may find ourselves in a foreign land, which is foreign to us, God never abandons His people. in the time of the Messiah, even though the Jews were living in the land promised to them by God, they were in many ways, foreigners in their own land as the Romans occupied it and enforced their own rules and culture on it.

In the messianic age, God’s people enjoy intimate communion with Him. God promises to be with mankind, in the same kind of relationship as a mother with a child. The One, who is the very image of the Father, who came in the world, in the flesh and lived on Earth, Messiah Yeshua, will walk with mankind, just as He did in the Garden. The downpayment of this promise is the indwelling of God’s Spirit in those called by His name. The Messiah promised in John 14:18, “I will not leave you as orphans.”

Purifying empty worship

God rejects rituals without righteousness. True worship is grounded in humility, reverence, and repentance. The faithful remnant is mocked, because they are foreigners living in cultures that revel in wallowing in sin, but the faithful will ultimately be vindicated.

“Thus says the LORD, “Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” (Isaiah 66:1-2 NAS95)

Isaiah 66:1–2 parallels King Solomon’s prayer at the dedication of the first temple (1Kings 8).

“But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! “Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O LORD my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place.” (1 Kings 8:27-29 NAS95)

Solomon, in all his wisdom and splendor, humbly recognizes that the magnificent Temple—though a masterpiece of architecture and the fulfillment of both his and his father David’s vision—is still just a structure. As breathtaking as it is, it cannot contain the greatness of the One to whom it is dedicated. Solomon declares that no matter how beautiful or sacred the temple may be, it does not grant him authority over God. The presence of the Almighty far exceeds the majesty of stone and gold. It is not the building that makes God glorious, but God who makes the building holy.

In a similar way, Malachi prophesies that the Messiah will come and purify His people (Malachi 3:1–4). The faithful remnant becomes the foundation for the renewed, redeemed people of God — echoing themes picked up in the Gospels and early believers.

Miraculous birth of a redeemed people

Zion gives birth to a nation without labor — a picture of sudden, divine redemption. It’s not the result of human striving but of God’s own power and timing. We should never say, “We willed this and it happened.”

““Before she travailed, she brought forth; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once? As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons. “Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?” says the LORD. “Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?” says your God.” (Isaiah 66:7-9 NAS95)

This passage has been a rallying cry for those who have seen Heaven at work in the establishment and protection of the modern State of Israel up to 1948 and to today. The birth of the modern state of Israel traces back to the Zionist movement of the 19th century, but its fulfillment in 1948 was no mere political victory—it was a display of God’s sovereign hand at work. While many take credit for Israel’s establishment, the truth is that they were simply instruments in God’s plan. What happened was not by human might, but by divine power. Ironically, most of the early leaders and citizens were secularists—many even socialists or communists—yet God moved on their behalf, not because of their righteousness, but because He is faithful to His promises, even when we are not. Against overwhelming odds, Israel fought war after war—outnumbered, outgunned, with barely an army or air force—and still emerged victorious. The miraculous triumphs of 1948, 1967, and 1973 stand as undeniable testimonies to God’s faithfulness and power.

The rebirth of Israel foreshadows the supernatural rebirth of Israel under the spiritual guidance of Messiah’s messengers (Acts 2). The Messiah brings about God’s kingdom swiftly and unexpectedly, fulfilling God’s purposes. Messiah Yeshua lovingly warns us that His return will come like a thief in the night—sudden and unexpected. He calls us to live with hearts that are watchful and ready, not caught off guard by the signs of the times. When He speaks of the “abomination of desolation,” He is not trying to instill fear, but to prepare us. Just as history has given us glimpses of such abominations before, we are not left in the dark. In His mercy, He has shown us what to look for and how to respond, so that when the time comes, we can act in faith and not in panic. Let us stay close to Him, trusting that He will guide and protect those who listen to His voice.

Summary: Tammy